Consider me to have a bit of a deficit in denominational nostalgia. I don’t apologize for it. A lament heard often in our SBC circles is about the halcyon days of ten percent Cooperative Program giving, the fictional harmony among various groups that made up the SBC back then. That lament includes despair for the days of ever […]
Pastor disaster is always just around the corner…or is it?
A staple of the pastoral ministry is the ubiquity of doomsdayers, naysayers, and highly negative soothsayers. To wit: Epidemic of forced pastoral terminations! Thousands of pastors leaving ministry each month! Depression rampant among pastors! Pastors are overworked, underpaid, drowning in a sea of student debt! Average tenure of pastors is short, and unsweet! Toxic churches […]
Platt on mission funding “outside traditional cooperative funding channels”
David Platt had a live stream question and answer session earlier this week. Here are some subjects covered. I appreciate his efforts to be available and to communicate with Southern Baptists. The link is to the Baptist Press article reporting on it. — “Has any thought been given to changing the funding model of IMB missionaries?” […]
Would you qualify under NAMB’s church planter Code of Conduct?
Our North American Mission Board is devoting about half of their $120 million budget to planting churches and is enlisting church planters to plop themselves down in locations, mainly cities, all over the nation to gather and plant a congregation. Needless to say, there are expectations and requirements for planters. Here’s the NAMB web page […]
NAMB to give IMB $4 million? What’s the SBC coming to?
The North American Mission Board trustees also voted Oct. 7 to reduce NAMB’s budget by $4 million and transfer the money to IMB. While the SBC Executive Committee must approve the proposal before funds are transferred to IMB, NAMB trustee chairman Chuck Herring called the unanimous decision by NAMB trustees a “Kingdom vote.” Let me […]
SBC dinosaur sightings: Are these headed for extinction? (Part One)
The most amazing thing about Southern Baptist life is how we seem to keep so many entities, programs, and initiatives slogging along for decades and scores of years in spite of great changes in society, church life, and giving patterns and amounts. Consider my use of the word “extinction” to be an example of blogging license. I […]
Cooperative Program shows a 1.39% increase over last year
The Executive Committee reports that Cooperative Program receipts for the fiscal year just ended are 1.39% above last fiscal year. In dollars, this is $2,592,620.78 more than last year. CP surpasses budget projection for fiscal year, Baptist Press reported yesterday. My SBC friends, UP is UP and a little up is not down. How about […]
Pastor appreciation is a good thing, this month or whenever
Because Dave Miller has a conflict of interest and I don’t ((I am retired, stress-free, and can shoot from the blogging hip), I’ll help him out on Pastor Appreciation Month. On our authoritative denominational calendar October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Here are some resources, annotated: 10 Ideas for Pastor Appreciation Month. OK, so LifeWay sells stuff; however, if […]
Almost 10% of SBC churches upped CP percentage by at least one point
The Executive Committee has promoted a “1% Cooperative Program Challenge” over the past few years in which churches were challenged to increase their CP contributions by a percentage point (percentage of undesignated church offerings). A recent Baptist Press article reported that about ten percent of SBC churches had done so over the past two years. The […]
Can state conventions slow the denominational death march?
Amuse yourself with over 28,000 articles on “death of denominations” and then do some sober thinking about the closest thing to a denomination to the average Southern Baptist pastor: his state convention. Our beloved International Mission Board might be the latest to implement severe cuts in employment levels. Their August bombshell declared that 600-800 personnel […]
Funding and the IMB’s future
I was overseas in 2012 or so and happened to be present for a meeting of our missions personnel in one of the high-security countries. The discussion turned to tight funding and what the future looked like. The mission leader asked me, just an ordinary SBC pastor, what the thinking might be the states about such […]
IMB retiring missionaries transition resources
Before Southern Baptists charge off in 47,000 different directions trying to help returning missionaries, here are a few resources ALREADY in place that ought to have priority: Our International Mission Board is closer, more attuned, and in the best position to help. The IMB has a transition team headed by Clyde Meador, IMB’s executive advisor to […]